Common Topics 1
"It's not difficult, O Athenians, to escape death, but it is much more difficult to avoid depravity, for it runs swifter than death." - Socrates, from Plato's Apology
What is the possible and the impossible?
sweet
What is Testimony: Example by Induction?
"Grizzly bears can't be dangerous -- they look so cute!"
What is a red herring?
What is an Appeal to False Authority?
The beginning of an essay
What is an exordium?
"That which is actually hot, as fire, makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and therefore moves and changes it."
What is Antecedent and Consequent?
(Also acceptable: Cause and Effect)
gluttons
What is Testimony: Proverbs?
Person B: oh, so you want us to buy a brand new fancy car? I don't think we have enough money for a Rolls Royce.
What is a straw man?
But officer, this is the fifth ticket I've gotten this year. If I get another ticket, then they will take my license away, and I won't be able to drive to work. My children will starve!
What is Appeal to Pity?
The end of an essay, where you tell the audience why it matters to them
What is the amplification?
"What constitutes an American? Not color nor race nor religion. Not the pedigree of his family nor the place of his birth. Not the coincidence of his citizenship. Not his social status nor his bank account. Not his trade nor his profession." - Harold Ickes' Speech, "What is an American?"
What is Definition: Negation?
physically
What is Definition: Description?
Judge: Have you stopped beating your poor dog yet?
What is a Loaded Question?
What is the Tu Quoque?
A thing we all agree on; one side of the argument; the other side of the argument.
What is the division?
"Hence it comes likewise that princes many times make themselves desires, and set their hearts upon toys.... Nero for playing on the harp, Domitian for certainty of the ahnd with the arrow, Commodus for playing at fence, Caracalla for driving chariots, and the like." Francis Bacon, "Of Empire"
What is Testimony: Example by Precedent?
forgetting
Relationship: Contraries vs Contradictories
If the English don't drive on the right side of the road, what are they doing on the wrong side?
What is Equivocation?
Son: Dad, can I go to see the movie Attack of the Killer Wombats?
Dad: No, son, you can't go. It's got violence.
Son: Aw, come on. Everyone's seeing it!
What is the Bandwagon fallacy?
The first sentence of a paragraph which states the proof that paragraph is demonstrating
What is the topic sentence?
"I know many persons who have the purest taste in literature, and yet false taste in art." John Ruskin, "Taste in Literature"
Comparison: Differences
delegation
Comparison: Degree of Greater versus Lesser Number
Either you're an American or you're a Communist. You aren't from America, so you must be a Communist!
What is an either-or?
Wasn't your uncle in jail once? I don't think we can trust the opinion of a formal criminal.
What is an Ad Hominem?
How many arguments you are using